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Bakugou Katsuki, prince of dragons and heir to his father’s throne was strong and wild and much, much older than his human form suggested. The prince was known for two simple weaknesses. First, his incendiary manner, and second, a human boy named Deku.
Still adolescent for a dragon, he was a temperamental prince. Masaru, his meek father and the reigning king, was known to have pronounced in an affectionate and long suffering way, that given his mother’s indomitable spirit and iron will, that no other possible result had been possible for his son. Despite his relative youth, Katsuki was already decorated for defending his land in territory wars, leading their forces alongside Masaru and showing his father that irrepressible rage aside, his son’s head for battle was probably better than his own.
Katsuki’s scales gleamed a princely gold, shimmering and shifting as he flew over the small village of Altscroft below him. His bright red eyes, set deep in his angular face, scanned the township. Dragons and humans typically lead separate lives. However this town was isolated and often targeted by vagrants and thieves. The village headman, fearing for the safety of his citizens, had approached Masaru. He offered humble thanks and promises that the dragons could take equal share in any precious metals found by the villagers in the small mine which formed their principle export in exchange for protection in the form of aerial patrols and assistance in peacekeeping. Masaru, a merciful king, had agreed easily, forming an enduring relationship between himself and Yagi, the frail blonde man who maintained the village.
Swooping low over the rooftops, Katsuki scanned the streets. Having finished his lessons for the day, all he felt like doing was letting that out. His fangs, which he always kept partially bared, were sharp as ice picks and often attracted as many stares from the villagers as his gorgeous scales. He was only ever half an insult away from snapping them at someone, or simply using them for intimidation.
Katsuki’s wings were possibly his most impressive feature. Thick, leathery carmine cut with gold veins that spread and flexed as he glided through the air, eyes searching out the local apothecary. Deku, the child of the village witchdoctor, was one of the few Katsuki considered a friend, though nothing would ever have him admit that.
They had met years ago, when Deku was barely old enough to start to accompany the witchdoctor, his mother Inko, on delivery runs. Katsuki’s own mother, the firey queen Mitsuki, struggled with insomnia, and only the witchdoctor’s potions could ease her exhaustion and help her sleep. Dragons usually shifted to their human guises while in the village, only exposing themselves to the villagers in their true forms as they sailed in the skies above. Wide eyed and awed at being so close to the beings he had watched soaring overhead through his whole, short life, Deku had babbled the whole time as he hid behind his mother’s skirts. In their palace inside their domain, the dragons relaxed in their serpentine bodies, metallic scales gleaming every colour under the sun. The large black pendant which swung around his neck was comical on his small form, though it denoted his apprenticeship to Inko.
The palace was surprisingly simple. It was carved into a tree as old as dragon heritage, which Katsuki had questioned until his father explained it was a reinforcement of the iron patience required to rule. Any monarch who could not control their own fire had no hope of looking after an entire empire. There were many rooms, each closed with door hangings and connected by airy corridors. Only the royal family lived in such an organised facility, with most of the other dragons finding caves or mountains to roost in. Most of the bedrooms were of a functional size, big enough that dragons could move easily in their natural forms, though not excessive. In his parent’s room there was a massive, luxurious blanket nest on the floor, one of the only real displays of opulence among the royals. Katsuki’s own bedding was similar but much smaller, though it was still more than big enough for him to curl up in. The reception room, which doubled as a dining hall, was long and extended deep into the tree, the furniture was much too big for humans, with tables twice the height of a full grown man but no chairs, for dragons did not need them. The witchdoctor would have looked almost comical dwarfed by the forest of table legs if she was even half as intimidating as she was. Deku, hiding in her skirts, barely came an eighth of the way up the table leg.
Despite having a hundred odd years on Deku, Katsuki was at the equivalent developmental age to the small green haired boy who was so captivated by the closeness of dragons. Ever seeking the fulfilment of his own ego, Katsuki had snuck away from his parents and approached the boy without warning from behind, stretching his snout out to sniff the thatch of hair atop his freckled head. When Katsuki’s hot breath gusted across the back of his neck Deku had been startled, backing into his mother and tripping over her boots. It had been the first of many displays of clumsiness, and the origin of Deku as a preferred moniker to his given name.
Even then Deku had not feared him. Despite falling on his ass in front of royalty, Deku had been enraptured by Katsuki. His gold and crimson colouring was strikingly rare among dragons, as was the willing show of his perilous fangs. Young and without understanding of dragon etiquette, let alone the reverence expected when visiting royalty, Deku had reached out his pudgy child’s hand and petted Katsuki’s nose. The dragon prince had snapped at him, though even at his own tender age had understood the repercussions of intentionally injuring a human. Deku had giggled and apologised and Mitsuki, having watched the affair suggested Katsuki take the boy for a ride, pending Inko’s approval, which came easily. Katsuki fought his mother’s edict, until his father suggested he might not be strong enough to carry a passenger, to which his son could do nothing other than give Deku a ride in order to prove his father wrong and declare himself the winner.
Katsuki bent his neck, allowing the small boy to climb aboard. Deku’s hands were cold, even to his dragon scales. The palace was high in the sky, with humans being ushered up a long set of stairs by the gatekeeper dragons, and he was chilled by the altitude. Once he straddled Katsuki’s back, Deku leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the dragon prince’s neck, not noticing the way Katsuki stiffened. His station had left him unused to casual touch. Deku began to talk endlessly, question after question spilling from his mouth as Katsuki glared and spat unhelpful, grumpy answer back. Finally he interjected with an ‘are you ready’ and he felt Deku nod against his neck as he pushed off the ground. The sound of Deku’s words faded as they soared higher and higher until the clouds looked like the softest of pillows below them.
His reverie was cut short when he spied the green haired boy below him. Dropping from the sky, Katsuki shifted from his dragon form into his human one just as his feet touched the street.
“Oi, Deku.”
Deku’s head whipped around, faster than Katsuki thought humans could move. Deku was surprising him a lot these days.
“Kacchan! I’ve got deliveries, feel like coming?” Deku’s smile was beatific, and resisting it was beyond Katsuki, not that he could ever bear to let him know.
“ Che, fine.”
Katsuki turned away from Deku’s grin. Lately it had been getting harder not to melt into it and smile back. Looking towards the apothecary where Deku worked and lived with Inko, he could see puffs of purple smoke drifting out the windows. The smell was similar to the potion his mother took for her sleeping problems, thick and lavender, and Katsuki’s sharp hunting nose detected the smell clinging to Deku’s clothes.
“You smell like shit, nerd.” Katsuki’s voice is hard but without any real edge.
Deku laughs and the sound is easy and light and Katsuki wants to float away on that sound, because Deku’s happiness fills him like a balloon.
“Yeah, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my potions and accidentally let the sleeping brew boil. Might have, uh, smoked out the place.”
Katsuki shakes his head and swirls around, grabbing Deku in a headlock. The smaller boy laughs again as the dragon prince scrubs his fist in the messy green mop of hair but this time Katsuki is distracted by the new bulk of his shoulders. Deku has always been slight, but now the peasant shirt he wears pulls tight over thick muscle and all Katsuki can think is how his human clothes fit exactly the same.
There have been a lot of changes in Deku recently. Katsuki asks his parents about human adolescence and gets some vague and probably only half true information about something called puberty, but what’s happening to Deku seems closer to the changes he observed in himself decades previous than to the odd, human process described by his parents.
His reflexes are faster, and his skin no longer feels cold to Katsuki’s touch. There’s something sharp in the shape of his eyes which reminds Katsuki of dragons. His shoulders are bulky and thick like he’s dragon shifted into a human form and his wings barely fit.
Katsuki trails a little behind Deku as they make the rounds of the village, Deku distributing the various vials and herbs to the townspeople. It’s not until they reach the humble home of the village head that he’s pulled out of his reverie.
Deku knocks on the big wooden door, calling out to announce his arrival. There’s a shuffling noise from somewhere inside and the door swings open to reveal Yagi stooped and smiling.
“Ah, young Midoriya! And prince Bakugo, welcome!”
Yagi beckons them inside and Katsuki would rather not, would much prefer Deku to drop the potion off so they can go waste time kicking around the forest around town. But Deku smiles and steps inside because of course he does and Katsuki follows because that was a foregone conclusion ever since Deku’s voice had stopped squeaking.
Inside, the house is a chaotic kind of semi neat. Empty mugs were strewn about, and stacks of paper littering every horizontal surface, but the mess is surface level, largely made of items which seem to be of the daily use kind. Yagi leads them further inside, insisting they take seats at the large table while he fusses and makes tea in the kitchen. A black cat winds around his feet, tail curling around his leg and Yagi leans down to rub it’s head affectionately. Deku had tried that once and nearly lost his hand, but that had been before he knew the cat’s secret.
The cat was a shifter, a man of some magic whose role in the village was spurious at best. He’d lived here with Yagi for as long as Katsuki could remember, though he typically preferred his cat form to his human one.
Yagi finished in the kitchen and brought over the tea. Aizawa, the shifter, jumped up onto the man’s lap as he sat, circling three time and kneeding his thigh in way which looked somewhat painful by Yagi’s expression before settling down, small body tucked into a neat circle.
Deku recited some instructions about the small package of medicine and Yagi nodded and smiled and asked a million questions which made Katsuki want to die. He kicked Deku under the table, reminding him to hurry up.
The look he received back indicated that Deku had received the message but would take his sweet time. Katsuki slouched low in his seat, respect for the village leader all that was keeping him from stalking out and heading over to the woods to start a therapeutic but carefully controlled forest fire.
After what felt like half a year, Deku rose and the almost equally long process of goodbyes and see you soons and reiterating the instructions begins. Now Katsuki really does leave, extricating himself and waiting for Deku right outside the door. Aizawa joins him, stretching languidly in the sun and glaring balefully up at Katsuki.
That glare gets to him a little, not that he’s ever showed it.
It’s far too long before Deku joins Katsuki on the porch. He clips Deku over the head and grunts before moving off, knowing Deku would follow.
He steers them towards the forest, down winding dirt and cobbled roads as the outskirts of the village thin and the path stretches long and thin before them.
Deku’s excited, babbling about some new remedy he’s learning. Katsuki’s tuned out, walking in step with Deku but there’s something peaceful in his overexcited nerd rambling. Eyes on the sky, half considering shifting and taking Deku for a ride through the clouds, he misses the signs.
Coming towards them on the path ahead are a rowdy band of men with large packs, probably travellers making their way between towns. As they grow closer, they note Katsuki’s expensive attire, and Deku’s pendant, signifying him as apprentice to a witchdoctor.
Neither boy ever considered that anything might happen.
Katsuki trusts his own strength and Deku could never conceive of any ill will even when presented with overwhelming evidence.
As they passed each other, Deku was thrown to the ground, basket ripped away in the hope of it containing valuable potions. Suddenly there were several men between them, grabbing at Katsuki trying to push him down.
Katsuki grinned back, letting his fangs extend slowly as he started to shift, watching the men’s faces cloud over in terror as they realised what they had done. From the other side of the road Katsuki registers a scream, and he pauses because it’s not Deku .
Looking over, Katsuki feels like the breath is punched from his lungs as he freezes.
Looming over the bandits stands a dragon.
Smaller than Katsuki but denser, thick muscles rippling in the afternoon sun. Deku is nowhere in sight and Katsuki’s mind clicks in.
The green black of glossy scales, colour so closely matching his birds nest hair. The kind, confused eyes which searched Katsuki’s. The lack of aggression despite a general distrust between dragons and humans outside of the village.
Somehow, this was Deku.
Wanting to end this quickly, Katsuki drew in air, opening his mouth to threaten fire. The men, intimidated by the two dragons, fled.
Resplendent in his dragon form, the dragon prince moved carefully over to Deku. The boy was clearly shaken. Leathery black wings drawn tight to his body, head low, eyes fixed on a point on the ground some distance away and determinedly avoiding Katsuki’s gaze.
Taking a deep breath, the dragon prince extended a wing, reaching out to Deku and resting the tip of his wing on Deku’s haunches. The green dragon started a little, but leaned into the touch.
Glad that Deku was responsive, even to simple touches, Katsuki moved closer and draped his whole, heavy wing over Deku’s still form.
They stayed like that for a while. Long enough for Katsuki to memorise the warmth of Deku’s body, the smooth shift of his scales and the peculiar green hue. He had always had trouble expressing himself, but like this he almost felt like something might translate to Deku, even without words.
“Kacchan?”
Deku’s voice is small and familiar. It grounds Katsuki a little.
“Yeah, nerd?”
“Take me home, I think I need to talk to Mum.”
It’s hours before Katsuki sees Deku again.
On the road, he’d talked Deku through the process of shifting back to his human guise. It was hard, he barely thought about how to shift, just shifted instinctually just as Deku had earlier.
Back in his human body, Deku collected himself a little, patting down his arms as if checking for scales. Eventually he nods and they walk slowly back to the town.
Katsuki’s arm stays slung casually around Deku’s shoulders as they walk.
It’s night now and Katsuki’s anxious, not that any power on this Earth could ever have him admit it. Deku’s waiting for him on the front step of the apothecary when he arrives.
Even from the front gate, Katsuki can see that Deku’s eyes are puffy and red. Grubby tear tracks run down his freckled cheeks and his hair is even more mussed than usual. Katsuki knows that he’s probably been wringing his hands through it all afternoon. Something in Katsuki’s chest clenches at the sight of him like that, sad and dejected but there’s still some fire in his big green eyes.
Without a word, Deku rises and walks towards Katsuki, who stands aside and lets Deku lead him to a secluded spot just outside the village. Once there, Katsuki lounges against a tree, giving Deku room to fidget and work out his nerves wringing his hands together.
Ten minutes later and Deku’s still all twitchy, Katsuki sighs in false irritation and scrubs Deku’s hair with a fist.
“So, nerd? The hell happened out there?”
It’s not what he wants to say, but hard words are familiar and Katsuki can’t, he just can’t bring himself to say what he wants to. He’s raw for the boy before him but Deku needs to come first, before the tingly feeling Katsuki gets from helping him.
“Well, uh,”
And he’s off.
Katsuki settles down next to him, getting comfortable and ready to hear what the boy has to say.
“So my Dad, you know how I never met him? Well, he was a dragon, like you, but a warrior or something. He was really powerful, but he was from another nation. Mum did her apprenticeship to a witchdoctor in Harlicksford, where he was from and they met and fell in love, but before I was born he was chosen as part of some elite team to vanquish a legendary beast, and he died. Mum never told me because she wasn’t sure whether I would manifest dragon traits and I guess she didn’t want me to be disappointed or something? Well, uh, I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.”
Deku paused and honestly that’s a lot of Katsuki to process, let alone Deku. All he can focus on right now is Deku’s distress, which Katsuki feels like a hole in his heart. Katsuki leans in, hot breath sparking a little as he does.
“I’m going to teach you how to fly.”
Deku looks up at him, peering through his curls to gaze into Katsuki’s deep red eyes, and he can almost see a little of the sadness fading from his face.
And they shift, Deku a little slowly and Katsuki scoffs not because he’s mad but because he’s Katsuki.
It takes hours and hours, but in the stirring light of the morning Deku rises gleaming, sleek and powerful as he glides through the air.
Deku can’t fly for long yet, his wings are still young, but Katsuki doesn’t care as they traverse the night sky together. He’s flown with armies, with royal processions and with his parents, but he’s never flown like this.
They’re soaring and wheeling around one another, and Katsuki lets his tail drag softly along Deku’s occasionally and savours the answering shiver from the other dragon.
Eventually they land, Katsuki shifting seamlessly back to human as he touches down and Deku lagging enough to almost crush the dragon prince.
Exhausted, the rest, propped up against a tree. Deku leans his head on Katsuki’s shoulder and Katsuki lets him, because he’s soft right now, edges worn down by the stress from the day and the lateness of the hour.
And.
He turns his head, nosing into Deku’s hair as the boy signs quietly. Pressing a soft kiss to his temple, Katsuki is happy when Deku answers by leaning a little heavier on him and this. This is bliss.